1. Update system and optionally disable X Desktop, we don’t need GUI

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

raspi-config

Select menu: 3, B1, B1

2. Install dependencies

apt-get install subversion libsigc++-2.0-dev g++ make libsigc++-1.2-dev libgsm1-dev screen \
libpopt-dev tcl8.5-dev libgcrypt-dev libspeex-dev libasound2-dev alsa-utils install qt-sdk git groff -y

3. Add a new user

adduser svxlink

4. Download svxlink source

cd /usr/src; wget https://github.com/sm0svx/svxlink/archive/15.11.tar.gz; tar xvf 15.11.tar.gz; cd svxlink-15.11/src; mkdir build; cd build

5. Compile and install svxlink

cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr -DSYSCONF_INSTALL_DIR=/etc \
        -DLOCAL_STATE_DIR=/var ..

make
make doc
make install
ldconfig

6. Install sounds

cd /usr/share/svxlink/sounds; wget https://github.com/sm0svx/svxlink-sounds-en_US-heather/releases/download/14.08/svxlink-sounds-en_US-heather-16k-13.12.tar.bz2
tar xvf svxlink-sounds-en_US-heather-16k-13.12.tar.bz2
mv en_US-heather-16k en_US; rm -rf svxlink-sounds-en_US-heather-16k-13.12.tar.bz2

7. Configure sound levels

alsamixer

Press F6 and select usb soundcard.
Press F5 to show all.
Increase gain on CAPTURE, around 80 is fine, experiment otherwise.
Exit alsamixer and save the settings with:

alsactl store

8. Tweak configuration files in /etc/svxlink/svxlink.conf and /etc/svxlink/svxlink.d/ModuleEchoLink.conf

svxlink.conf: I will show you only modified lines

Uncomment LOCATION_INFO=locationInfo to show your Echolink on aprs.fi map.
MODULES=ModuleEcholink
CALLSIGN=Yoursign-L
SHORT_IDENT_INTERVAL=0
LONG_IDENT_INTERVAL=0

Under [Rx1]

AUDIO_DEV=alsa:plughw:1 #Hardware ID of the soundcard, usually 1 on rpi with usb soundcard
SQL_START_DELAY=100 #Prevent TX, RX loop
VOX_THRESH=500 #Increase if your VOX gets falsly opened

Under [Tx1]:

AUDIO_DEV=alsa:plughw:1
PTT_TYPE=SerialPin
PTT_PORT=/dev/ttyUSB0 #Depends what you have for PTT triggering, I do it with RS232 to USB converter

Under [LocationInfo]
#This is mostly self explanatory

APRS_SERVER_LIST=poland.aprs2.net:14580
STATUS_SERVER_LIST=aprs.echolink.org:5199
#Go to maps.google.com, select your location, right click, what's here
#and you'll get coordinates, for example: 45.660325, 14.291537 Go to https://rechneronline.de/winkel/degrees-minutes-seconds.php
#and convert from decimal degrees provided from maps.google.com to degrees, arc minutes, arc seconds.
#Enter converted
#coordinates.

LON_POSITION=14.17.29E
LAT_POSITION=45.39.37N
CALLSIGN=EL-yourcallsign
FREQUENCY=145.275
TX_POWER=5
ANTENNA_GAIN=0
ANTENNA_HEIGHT=5m
ANTENNA_DIR=-1
PATH=WIDE1-1
BEACON_INTERVAL=10
TONE=123
COMMENT=SvxLink by SM0SVX (svxlink.sourceforge.net)

ModuleEcholink.conf:

ALLOW_IP=192.168.0.0/24 #Depends on your home network setup,
#it could be also ALLOW_IP=192.168.1.0/24
SERVERS=europe.echolink.org
CALLSIGN=yoursign-L
PASSWORD=your echolink password
SYSOPNAME=yourname
LOCATION=[Svx] comment about your echolink
LINK_IDLE_TIMEOUT=0
AUTOCON_ECHOLINK_ID=ID of the remote repeater for example AUTOCON_ECHOLINK_ID=609569
AUTOCON_TIME=1200
DESCRIPTION=edit text to fit your needs

reboot

9. Run svxlink

svxlink

Try to transmit, usb soundcards on rpi are tricky. You will probably get a warning:
Rx1: Distorsion detected! Please lower the input volume!
Don’t worry about it.
Exit and run svxlink as daemon

svxlink --daemon

10. Start svxlink at boot
You need to wait some time after boot for Pi to initialize devices.
It will not work when you start svxlink immediately after the boot,
the process will run but there will be no access to PTT. Open
/etc/rc.local and add this two lines at the end of the file, before exit 0

sleep 120
/bin/bash -c '/usr/bin/svxlink --pidfile=/var/run/svxlink.pid --daemon'

This will start svxlink 2 minutes after boot.